Irish peacekeeper Lorna Coffey has spoken of the heartbreak of losing her fiancé, Sergeant Ross Dunne, to stage 4 oesophageal cancer just months before they were due to marry this Christmas.
A Love Story That Began in Lebanon
The couple first met in 2023 while both were stationed in Lebanon, a posting neither had originally planned to take. "Myself and Ross met back in 2023. So, we were both peacekeepers with the Irish Army. We were serving overseas in Lebanon," Lorna told The Cork's 96FM Opinion Line Paul Byrne.
"It was a trip we both didn't plan on going on, but we both jumped on last minute. Circumstances changed, and we both jumped on the trip late, and we laid eyes on each other over there," she recalled. "After a little bit of persuading and talking and chatting to me and texting me and whatever, I finally said, 'Oh, I'll go out for a coffee with him' or whatever. And we were the talk of the whole camp over there, we later found out. But yeah, we fell in love, and we fell in love deeply."
From Deployment to Diagnosis
Ross formally asked Lorna to be his girlfriend during a visit home to Ireland in September 2023. The couple returned to Ireland that November for twelve months before heading back to Lebanon in 2024. They enjoyed travelling together, though their fondest moments were simply catching Marvel movies at the cinema. Lorna described them as "true soulmates."
The couple chose to return to Lebanon for a full year in November 2024 to save for a property. They briefly reunited in May 2025, when Ross proposed. However, after returning to Lebanon, Ross began experiencing health problems. Lorna recalled: "It's not a natural environment to be deployed overseas, so you're missing family, you're missing friends. He started to kind of get a pain in the back right side of his head, and it was kind of what I'd explain as like a tension headache."
"Then he started to get back pain, and the back pain was quite persistent. And so when we came home in November, the pain was persistent, and it had been going on for quite some time, and he went straight to his doctor."
A Courageous Fight and Lasting Memory
Ross was diagnosed with cancer and began chemotherapy in January this year. Medical professionals identified stage 4 oesophageal cancer, which had spread to his liver at just 28 years of age. Lorna shared: "We had spent so much time together - planning a future and picking out kids' names and planning our wedding. One minute we were building our future together, and the next minute we were fighting for his future."
By July, doctors told Ross that chemotherapy had ceased to be effective and the disease had progressed to his lungs and lymph nodes. His condition worsened in August, and by September, medical staff advised hospice care. Ross died on September 15 at only 29 years old.
Lorna shared: "It is still incredibly raw. It was as peaceful as it could be. We were surrounded by all our friends and family. I was in the bed with Ross, and my arms were around him at the time, and all his family were there as well. His mam and dad, and his brother and his partner were all there, and we were all holding him, and we told him it's okay and that we would be okay."
When asked how she hoped Ross would be remembered, she explained: "I don't want Ross to be defined as the person who had cancer. I want Ross to be remembered as the courageous, brave, funny, loving character he was. And everybody that had the privilege of knowing Ross or speaking to him in his lifetime would know that. So that's what I want him to be remembered by."
Lorna is organising a fundraising evening at Muskerry Arms in Blarney on December 4, with all funds raised benefiting Our Lady's Hospice.
